BOSTON  The Boston Celtics are in foul trouble before Game 5 of the NBA finals even begins.

Both Rasheed Wallace and Kendrick Perkins have amassed six technical fouls so far in the playoffs, and their next one will earn an automatic one-game suspension. Both players are hot-tempered and known to rub referees the wrong way with complaints about calls.

"Listen, I don't want them to be less emotional. I want them to play their games, but also have some discipline," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "That's about all we can do."

Perkins tied for the league lead with 15 technical fouls in the regular season, then picked up six more in the first three rounds of the playoffs. He has so far avoided any in the finals.

Wallace has been ejected 30 times in his career <emdash /> the most since such records started being kept in 1992, according to STATS Inc. He entered the series against the Los Angeles Lakers with four technicals, and picked up his sixth on Thursday.

"Sheed is going to be all right. I'm pretty sure it's not the first time he's been in this situation, so he should know how to handle himself," Perkins said. "I'm going to make sure I tell him that today, though, when I see him. When we get out on the court I'm going to remind him."

Rivers commended Perkins for keeping himself under control.

"It's clearly the new Perk. I hadn't seen that side of him," he said. "The good news is we know he can do it. And the bad news is now we know he can do it, we're going to expect him to be one of those type of guys."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he won't encourage his players to try to draw out another technical, even though it could cost the Celtics the services of a big man in a series where size has been crucial: The team that's won the rebounding battle has won every game.

"That's not fair play. That's not the way to play games," Jackson said. "You can be provocative and get out there and act kind of like they do if you want to and get in people's faces and do that. But that's not the way I like to coach a team. That's not what I consider positive coaching, and that's what I like to think is the right way to do things."

Rivers wasn't so sure.

"I thought in the last game, even though they say they didn't, I thought (with Pau) Gasol there was a lot of extra stuff going on," Rivers said. "And they're right, obviously, we put ourselves in this predicament with Perk, and I thought Perk did a great job of walking away."

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BRYANT'S BODY: Kobe Bryant isn't sure yet if he'll be done with basketball for a while once the finals are over.

Bryant has struggled with several injuries across the second half of the season, which could prevent him from playing for the United States in the world championship.

"I don't know," Bryant said. "I've got to take care of my body, so whatever shakes out of that shakes out of that."

Bryant said he hadn't spoken to USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo since early in the season, and didn't discuss his summer plans with coach Mike Krzyzewski during a brief chat.

Colangelo recently told the New York Post he'd heard Bryant may need knee surgery, which would make him unavailable this summer. Bryant was forced to miss the 2006 worlds for the same reason, but played two years ago on the U.S. team that won the gold medal in Beijing.

He doesn't have a timetable for deciding on this summer. The Americans will gather for training camp next month, and the worlds are from Aug. 28-Sept. 12 in Turkey.

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FIGHTING MAD: Rajon Rondo was livid last autumn when he heard that Glen "Big Baby" Davis had broken his right thumb in a fight with a childhood friend the day before the season opener.

Davis missed the first 27 games of the season.

"I was very angry at 'Baby,' " Rondo said before the Boston Celtics practiced on Saturday for Game 5 of the NBA finals on Sunday. "I called him. I just told him a couple of things that I can't say right now on camera, so he knew I was very angry with him."

Boston went 22-5 before Davis returned. On Thursday, he was the key to Boston's fourth quarter comeback in a 96-89 win over the Los Angeles that evened the series at 2-2.

Davis told police that he had gotten into a fight with his "best friend since childhood," early in the morning on Oct. 26. Police found him at 4 a.m. walking shirtless near a black SUV stopped in the middle of the road less than a quarter of a mile (400 meters) from his house.

He had surgery the next day.

"Sometimes you've got to make split decisions and sometimes you might not make the right decision," Davis said on Saturday. "Sometimes you might make the right decision, and it just didn't go my way. I'm disappointed that I let my team down."

Has he changed since then?

"He's no different," Rondo said. "I'm sure he probably won't make that mistake again. But he's still 'Big Baby.' "

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